2019-10-01 Cosmopolitan

For most

of my

childhood

and teenage

y e a r s , I g o t

a relaxer.

I did it every few months, like clockwork, until I turned 20

and started to notice that my thick hair had become thin and

weak. It was falling out like crazy. A decade of chemical damage

had finally caught up with me—and I knew that a breakup with

my relaxer was the only way I could reverse it.

But unlike most women who quit relaxers and just cut off all

their hair (aka The Big Chop), I decided to transition to my natural

texture (I was not about to go through *two* big breakups in

the same week, lol). But holy shit, was it a lot harder than

I expected. Instead of magically growing out the Tracee Ellis Ross

Afro of my dreams, I had to live with two totally different situations

at once: my new 4C hair (which, BTW, I had zero idea how to

take care of or style) and my previously relaxed ends.

It took months of trial and error, YouTube videos, and visits to

my stylist to get past the weird and uncertain “WTF do I do

with my hair?” stage. But now, I’m pretty much a pro—and

here to tell you exactly how it’s done.

of you found the

transition process

difficult.

SOURCE: COSMO POLL

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Cosmopolitan October 2019

DSquared2 x

K-Way jacket.

DSquared2

dress. Dinny Hall

earrings